uDigit Systems is excited to announce that the UNITE Conference is back this spring! This hybrid event will offer both in-person and virtual attendance options.
Please see the FAQ section for instructions on how to attend sessions virtually.
UNITE allows you to network and build relationships with other professionals in your field, whether you attend remotely or in person. The carefully selected sessions will not only allow you to stay up to date with the latest trends and developments, they will also offer the opportunity to learn new skills or improve existing ones.
The theme of the 2024 conference is "United in Discovery." Many post-secondary institutions are in a transitional phase as they navigate the move from legacy to Cloud ERP. The UNITE 2024 conference will aim to provide attendees with as much information as possible about all the potential software options available to post-secondary's. This would include PeopleSoft and its advancements, as well as new software and the process of implementing new Cloud solutions. The goal is to help institutions make informed decisions that best suit them and their students moving forward.
We look forward to seeing you May 13th and 14th, 2024, at Lister Conference Centre located on the beautiful University of Alberta campus.
If you have any suggestions for session topics you would like to see at the conference, please email them to [email protected]
Please check udigitunite.com often, as sessions, speakers, and vendors will be updated as they are scheduled.
Location Details
Address: Lister Conference Centre, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Schedule
Sessions
Welcome/Institutional Updates
Opening messages are followed by updates from each uDigit partner institution, where they share their past year's accomplishments, challenges, and future direction.
Presented by: Dave Dittaro, Director, Enterprise Applications (University of Alberta), Ken Lane, Director, Solutions and Service Delivery (University of Calgary), David Almond, Chief Information Officer (MacEwan University), Loren Bain, Director, Applications and Integration (NAIT), Ashton Wong, Manager, Enterprise Business Solutions, Business Technology Services (NorQuest College), Sukhjinder Singh, Senior Systems Analyst (Lakeland College), and Joe Guenther, Director, Information Technology (Olds College)
AI and the Cloud: Disruption or Opportunity? Sit Back or Lean in? Understanding Your Relationship with Change
In this keynote, David Chalk will demystify media-driven perceptions of AI and explain why it's seen more as a disruption than an opportunity. He will share why our approach to change can impact our decision to sit back or lean in when facing disruptive change and what can be done to manage the stress and anxiety that are often associated with change.
PeopleSoft Integration Strategies
Learn tips and tricks for integrating PeopleSoft with modern cloud solutions using features such as Integration Broker and Application Services Framework.
Accelerating PeopleSoft Innovation in Higher Ed
While SaaS and Cloud are evolving the landscape of enterprise systems, how do you continue to innovate within your PeopleSoft applications to deliver more and better services to your staff, faculty, students, and extended campus community (e.g., parents, prospectives, suppliers)? Join us to find out how a diverse group of Higher Ed technology innovators are using PeopleSoft-based eForms to radically transform and extend online self-service for users inside and outside their institutions. Whether you're in the middle of a digital transformation or contemplating when and how to begin, this will be a unique and results-focused conversation you won’t want to miss.
Highlights:
- Learn how the North Dakota University System created and launched over 120 new self-service PeopleSoft eForms for students, faculty, and staff across 11 campuses in just 7 months.
- Hear how Rochester Institute of Technology automated their complex Leave of Absence/Withdrawal process and transformed their entire user experience.
- Discover how UC Berkeley has eliminated hundreds of thousands of paper forms and streamlined processes with a few dozen highly-intelligent eForms inside PeopleSoft for students, faculty, staff, and parents.
Initiating a Rolling 3-year SEM Plan: Writing the NeverEnding Story
Last year NAIT went through the process of revamping the methods that we use for Strategic Enrolment Management planning, moving from a decentralized annual process to a 3-year institute-wide plan. We invite you to learn more about the environmental shifts that prompted this transition, the work we have done to make it possible, the unique challenges we have faced along the way, the new opportunities this plan will provide, and how we are planning to build on this work in the upcoming year.
Get Current Faster by Replacing Customizations with Configurations
With continuous delivery and selective adoption, it is more important than ever that we find faster ways to get current and stay current.
Workday for Higher Education: Adapting to a Changing Environment
In today's rapidly evolving landscape, higher education institutions confront a myriad of industry challenges, from fluctuating enrollment trends to budgetary constraints. This speaking session delves into the pivotal role of Workday in navigating these challenges and fostering resilience in higher education. Through insightful analysis of industry trends and real-world case studies, we explore how Workday serves as a transformative solution, empowering institutions to streamline operations, enhance financial management, and optimize workforce planning. Join us to uncover innovative strategies for leveraging Workday's capabilities to adapt, thrive, and drive positive change in the dynamic higher education environment.
"Everyone is Doing It” and Other Bad Reasons for Cloud Moves
When starting a digital transformation, it is best to know why you're doing it. Is moving to the Cloud a means to an end, or an end in itself? Are you trying to impact the bottom line, improve the user experience, or both? As the industry learns real-world lessons about re-platforming in the Cloud era, you’d better have your priorities straight.
Getting the Most Out of PeopleSoft PeopleTools: Tips and Techniques
Learn strategies for leveraging the entire PeopleSoft stack, including PeopleTools, the Web Browser, and the App Server.
Empower Hiring Teams to Attract More Talent and Fill Job Vacancies Fast
Empower hiring teams to attract more talent and fill job vacancies fast. Oracle Fusion Cloud Recruiting, together with Oracle Fusion Cloud Recruiting Booster, help organizations enhance the candidate experience, grow talent pools, drive internal mobility, and streamline the hiring process through innovative tools and automation and by unifying recruiting with the rest of the business. Join us for an interactive session where we will show you how to:
- Find qualified candidates faster and easier with automated tools and proactive event planning.
- Manage complex hiring workflows faster and easier, such as faculty hiring.
- Manage two-way communication easily, capturing all communications with your candidates.
- Schedule interviews faster and more efficiently with automation and integration to Microsoft Office 365
Grant Management at Your Fingertips
Grant Management is part of Oracle Fusion Cloud Project Management solution and allows you to manage the complete post award process, from initial funding to close out. Grant Management also provides an integrated platform for managing the financial aspects and collaborating on your awards and sponsored projects, while complying with your sponsors and internal control, billing, and reporting requirements.
Grant Management allows you to have complete visibility into all aspects of your awards. Quickly visualize the current spending status and drill into funding, budget, commitment, and expenditure details, as well as all related documents; all from any device, anywhere.
See How Oracle is Setting a New Standard for the Student Experience With its Next-Generation Student System
With hundreds of institutions worldwide already transforming back-office operations with the Oracle Fusion Cloud for finance and HR, the fall 2023 release of Oracle Student represented a key milestone in Oracle’s commitment to higher education and launched our first-wave of institutions on their deployment journey. In this session, see how Oracle Student sets a new standard for the student experience, get a peek around the corner on what’s next in 2024, hear how our early adopters are on a path to redefine affordability, academic achievement, and sustainable innovation.
AI is Suddenly Everywhere! What is the Fuss and Where Can I Get Value?
Join us for a captivating presentation on revolutionizing the higher education experience with AI. Discover the untapped value chatbots hold for students, faculty, advisors, and staff, and how Oracle's strategic partnership unlocks their potential. Explore the current market landscape and the transformative influence of generative AI and Large Language Models. Real-world client case studies showcase the remarkable benefits institutions have already gained with AI chatbots, from streamlined administrative processes to personalized student support. Witness a live demo of an Oracle-powered enterprise chatbots in action, seamlessly integrating with existing systems. Prepare to reimagine the future of academia and embrace the boundless possibilities that AI chatbots bring to higher education.
Enhancing Your Oracle Cloud Platform: Adopting Delivered FP&A Functionality for Higher Education Including AI & ML
Oracle EPM Cloud Planning provides advanced out-of-the-box planning frameworks that are highly configurable, but you can also build a customized solution tailored to your specific needs. This session discusses on how to leverage these frameworks to solve for specific requirements within higher education. Learn how to leverage advanced modeling and predictive analytical capabilities that are available to you already.
Enrolment Planning and Forecasting the Future
Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) & Planning is becoming imperative in higher education due to changing demographics, increasing transparency requirements, funding challenges, and shifting program mixes. SEM is a comprehensive process designed to help an institution achieve and maintain optimal enrolment, where optimal is defined within the academic context of the institution.
Join this session to learn more about how Plaid Analytics cloud-based enrolment forecasting tools can support universities with robust what-if enrolment scenarios that are accurate, fast, collaborative. With Canada’s recent changes to the international student study permit program, accurate and nimble enrolment planning is more important than ever.
Fluid Fundamentals
Join Jim Marion for a 60-minute review of PeopleSoft's Fluid Development Fundamentals! Discover the design differences between Classic and Fluid and learn shortcuts to building a modern, intuitive, mobile-ready user experience.
Better Decisions Through Better Data
Data is critical to decision-making. But how do we steward that data? Make sure it is Trusted, Secure, Accessible and Analyzed. Oracle provides the most robust platform for enabling just that. Come to this session to see how important, and how easy it is to get the most out of all of your data.
What Color is YOUR Parachute? Smart Strategies to Get From ‘PeopleSoft’ to ‘What’s Next’
Sorry to bring this up, but there is probably a huge ERP project in your future. Whether you move to a SaaS platform or reimplement PeopleSoft to fully modernize, if you want to stay relevant, it’s not a question of “if”, but “when”. How does your organization go about preparing for that? Someone once said that taking an organization through a major ERP project can be like jumping out of an airplane and sewing your parachute on the way down; you just hope you can get enough pieced together before you hit the ground to keep the landing from being… um… disruptive. Won't it be easier (and safer) if your parachute is ready before you board the plane?
We’ll discuss some of the smart things your organization can be doing today so that you’re ready for tomorrow when it comes.
- Design Cloud-proofed business processes that can are not platform-dependent, so they can easily move if you do.
- Automate manual tasks now so your staff has bandwidth to work the next big project.
- Invest in user experience improvements, like chat and role-focused portals, that you can take with you.
Join us for successful strategies that will ensure a soft landing when your next big ERP project comes and allow you to keep innovating in the meantime!
Update on the Investment Strategy for PeopleSoft, the Roadmap and New Product Capabilities. How to Maximize Your Investment in PeopleSoft
Join Rebekah Jackson, Vice President of PeopleSoft Product Strategy at Oracle, for an executive update on PeopleSoft and a celebration of some significant PeopleSoft milestones. Rebekah will discuss the strategic priorities for PeopleSoft and how they impact the product roadmaps across the applications and technology. You’ll get updates on some of the newest product capabilities and learn new options for lowering the cost of running PeopleSoft. You’ll hear how customers are leveraging powerful capabilities with PeopleSoft – from new features and Tools releases to analytics, from cloud infrastructure to digital assistants.
Navigating out of Legacy SIS
Many higher education institutions in Canada have a patchwork quilt of Student Information Systems. Many have also been looking at modernizing them to more contemporary technology platforms and capabilities. For some, this has led to compromised solutions that are, in some cases, worse than they were before. Replacing systems with possibly decades of customized business processes and logic is the apotheosis of a wicked problem. This presentation won’t give you solutions, but we hope to explore some solution paths together.
PeopleSoft on OCI: The Art of the Practical
Are you interested in understanding why so many Universities and Colleges have elected to lift their PeopleSoft into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)? This session will explore the value proposition of running PeopleSoft in the cloud, what’s possible now, what might be possible soon, and what might this journey look like. With practical tips on automated patching, monitoring, alerting, upgrading, and integrations I’ll share some real-world stories of what’s possible now and where PeopleSoft in OCI could take your organization.
Gain Real-Time Talent Visibility to Enhance Decision-Making With a Complete, Unified Solution for HR
Gain real-time talent visibility to enhance decision-making with a complete, unified solution for talent and HR. Engage your workforce and boost productivity with modern, easy-to-use tools in a single experience across devices. Join us for an open, interactive session where we can help you:
- Stay engaged with your employees throughout the year with check-ins and pulse surveys.
- Celebrate achievements and recognize your team to boost morale.
- Provide tools to help employees identify and develop skills to help them build their career with you.
- Understand skill gaps, high potential, loss risks and take
Supporting & Enhancing your Oracle Cloud Applications: Latest Trends in Application Management Support & Managing Quarterly Updates
In this session, we'll delve into the important aspects of supporting and enhancing Oracle Cloud Applications, focusing on the latest trends in Application Management Support and strategies for managing quarterly updates effectively. Drawing from extensive experience and insights, we'll provide practical guidance on optimizing Oracle Cloud Applications to meet the dynamic needs of the organizations.
PeopleSoft Campus Solutions Update
Learn how you can leverage new and underutilized capabilities in PeopleSoft Campus Solutions to provide a modern experience to your constituents today, while simultaneously preparing for your future journey to the Cloud. Additionally, we will overview Oracle's investment and roadmap for PeopleSoft Campus Solutions.
Leading Practices in Developing your Value-based Business Case For Moving To Oracle Cloud
Explore leading practices, trends, and key considerations for advancing your university's technology landscape with Oracle Fusion Cloud. Join us for an insightful session tailored to Alberta's higher education sector, where Finance, HR and IT executives and managers will discover how to craft a value-based business case. Gain practical insights and real-world examples for leveraging Oracle Cloud to enhance operational efficiency, scalability and innovation. Don't miss this opportunity to unlock transformative possibilities and support sustainable growth in the digital era of higher education.
Reduce Risk and Audit Cost by Automating ERP Access and Activity Monitoring
Evolving regulations and cyber-threats compromise the security and integrity of financial and business processes. Risk management automation that’s fully embedded in your critical ERP & HCM processes gives you the framework needed to grow, comply, and stay secure. It also elevates your Colleges and Universities ability to sustain themselves and make decisions with confidence. Explore how Oracle Cloud Risk Management controls cloud ERP & HCM users’ access to your financial data, monitors their activities, and makes compliance easier.
Come See How GenAI Can Be Your Co-Pilot in Productivity
Are you interested in seeing real-world examples of Generative AI uses cases in education? Would it be convenient to speak to your finance system in natural language? Or maybe you just want to play a game of Madlibs... Join us to see how!
Student Cloud Update
See for yourself how far we’ve come with a hands-on guided demo in Oracle Student Management. Bring a device (phone, tablet, laptop, they all work!) and experience the intuitive navigation, modern look and dynamic functionality that will transform how your students progress through their academic journey.
**The first 20 people to register for this session will be able to participate in the personalized experience (must be registered by Friday, May 10). All other attendees will still be able to attend and watch the demo. Please register early if you would like to participate.
Speakers
David Chalk
AI Expert, Change Management Coach, Serial Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker
Meet David Chalk, the Maverick Mind in AI and all things Technology!
David isn’t just your run-of-the-mill expert; he’s a trailblazing visionary in AI and technology, whose insights electrify Fortune 500 boardrooms. As a Change Management Business Coach, David possesses a rare gift: he demystifies the labyrinth of tech speak, making AI’s revolutionary impact on business crystal clear.
Imagine a question so complex, so intricate that it baffles the best minds. Now meet David, who’s never encountered a tech query he couldn’t untangle with ease. This unparalleled expertise has placed him at the summit of Artificial Intelligence mastery.
For 12 spellbinding years, David was the charismatic host of “Chalk Media,” a TV phenomenon that guided millions through the tech jungle, introducing the latest gadgets and innovations with unmatched flair. His strategic genius caught the eye of none other than Bill Gates in the 90s, leading to a groundbreaking collaboration on Microsoft’s future directions.
But David’s brilliance doesn’t stop at punditry. He’s the entrepreneurial spirit behind over 15 groundbreaking ventures, from Doppler Computer Superstores to Chalk Media, and from the pioneering Decision-Zone Cyber Defence Technology to the eco-conscious Trees Matter. His latest ventures, including CalmWear™ Compression Clothing for Autism, highlight his commitment to making a tangible difference in people’s lives.
His trophy shelf is overflowing with accolades for retail innovation, marketing genius, and leadership, recognized as Canada’s Top Marketer by the Retail Council of Canada. With over 150 articles celebrating his visionary work and the landmark acquisition of Chalk Media by RIM in 2008, David’s impact is undeniable.
Yet, beneath the laurels and achievements beats the heart of a relentless fighter. Diagnosed with Dyslexia in his 40s, David faced an education system that seemed designed for his defeat. His journey from struggling student to tech titan is nothing short of inspiring, a story he shares in the moving documentary “The Truth About Reading,” spotlighting the vital link between literacy and reaching our fullest potential.
David Chalk isn’t just a master of technology; he’s a beacon of hope, demonstrating that with resilience, understanding, and the right mentorship, the sky’s the limit. Join him on a journey to the future, where technology and human potential meet and where every challenge is an opportunity for innovation.
Jim Marion
Principal Instructor, Co-Founder
A regular blogger, speaker, author, and all round PeopleTools guru, Jim brings more than 20 years of PeopleSoft experience. Jim has background both inside and outside of Oracle. In a word, Jim has been “there.” He knows what it is like to be a customer.
Lee Ann Wentzell
Student System Specialist
Lee Ann has more than 20 years of experience working with higher education institutions, implementing Campus Solutions, advising on business process redesign and providing general customer education and support. She is excited to now also be previewing Oracle’s new cloud student information system, Oracle Student Management.
Rebekah Jackson
Vice President PeopleSoft Product Strategy and Product Management
As VP of Product Strategy for PeopleSoft, Rebekah is an Executive with broad cross-functional expertise, including business strategy, product management, development, program management, marketing and communication, quality assurance, performance and benchmarking, alliances, and consulting.
* Award Winning Program Manager of high-visibility, high-impact global projects. Champion for driving strategic change.
* Operations-focused business manager, skilled in data analysis and reporting to drive decision-making and efficient action.
Scott Howe
Enterprise Cloud Architect for Education
Scott Howe, Enterprise Cloud Architect, provides engineering and architectural guidance for the Higher Education community. Prior to his employment with Oracle, Scott spent 10 years at a large University as a DBA and Systems Admin responsible for Ellucian Banner, Degreeworks, Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Transact and other core services. Scott holds certifications including Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect, AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate, AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty, 11g Oracle Certified Professional, RedHat Certified Systems Admin, Comptia A+, Network+, Security+ as well as a Bachelors in Computer Science.
Darren Hall
Senior HCM Solutions Consultant
Darren Hall is a Human Capital Management Professional, it is his role to provide strategic direction for organizations in Canada for all Human Capital Management Software. These types of systems include full HRIS solutions (Core HR, Benefits, Payroll, Time and Labour), as well as applications such as Recruiting, Performance Management, Succession Planning, Workforce Planning, Pay for Performance, Onboarding/Offboarding, and all associated Business Intelligence and Analytics.
Stephen Brawn
Director, Product Strategy for Oracle Higher Education Applications Development
Steve Brawn is Director, Product Strategy for Oracle Higher Education Applications Development. In this role, Steve directly supports the direction and development of Oracle's student information system enterprise software applications, including PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and Oracle Fusion Cloud Student. Prior joining Oracle, Steve spent nearly 15 years as an enterprise applications developer, integrator, and technologist in multiple industries, working with multiple enterprise applications. Close to a decade of this time was spent in higher education, supporting, extending, and integrating PeopleSoft Campus Solutions at a large research institution in the United States. Steve’s intimate knowledge of the product roadmaps, strategies, and development of Oracle’s student information system applications, coupled with his experience in higher education - as a developer, integrator, and technologist - make him a sought after resource to help institutions prepare for their journey to Oracle Fusion Cloud Student.
Robert Singleton
Governance, Risk & Compliance / Risk Management Cloud Services Sales Consulting Leader
Robert is responsible for engaging with customers during the implementation cycles to develop strategies around GRC / Risk Management solutions and demonstrate how Oracle’s GRC / Risk Management solutions can assist organizations solve complex business challenges.
Allen Wong
Principal Solutions Consultant, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Over 20 years of experience supporting Oracle ERP solutions, including as an Oracle Customer as part of an implementation project and as a support specialist post-implementation, helping business users get the most value from their Oracle investment.
Paul Taylor
CEO and Founder
Founder, President, and CEO of Gideon Taylor, Paul has more than 25 years of PeopleSoft industry experience and a passionate focus on maximizing business value through innovative automation strategies and PeopleSoft-based technologies.
Scott Antin
Senior VP of Business Development
Scott has been involved with PeopleSoft for more than 20 years. He is a passionate advocate for intelligent business process automation and helping organizations conceive and create solutions that fundamentally transform how they operate.
Andrew Bediz
Managing Director
Andrew founded IntraSee, Inc. in 2005 after spending much of his career in the enterprise software industry and realizing user experience was the largest unaddressed gap in the industry. Prior to IntraSee, Andrew spent time with IBM and PeopleSoft where his responsibilities included product development, product strategy, consulting services and business development. His sessions at leading industry conferences are extremely popular. Especially those focused on artificial intelligence and User Experience, which Andrew is particularly well known for, and a leading expert on. IntraSee is now a part of Gideon Taylor, a leading firm helping enterprises get the most out of Cloud, AI and Automation. Andrew has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
Andrew Drinkwater
President & Co-Founder
Andrew Drinkwater is the President & Co-Founder at Plaid Analytics, and has over 20 years experience in higher education enrolment and financial planning, analytics, and reporting. Andrew holds an MBA from Simon Fraser University, and is a past board member of the Canadian Institutional Research & Planning Association.
Patrick Lougheed
Chief Solutions Officer & Co-Founder
Patrick Lougheed is the Chief Solutions Officer & Co-Founder at Plaid Analytics, and has over 20 years of experience in higher education leadership in information technology and student services. Pat holds an MEd from Simon Fraser University, and is past-president of Simon Fraser University’s Alumni Association.
Kate Russell
Sr Director, Product Strategy, Higher Education
As part of Workday’s Higher Education product strategy team, Kate is focused on strategic growth initiatives and investments in the industry. She also leads cross-product efforts to deliver the greatest value in Workday’s portfolio offerings across faculty, staff, and student populations. Previously, she managed initiatives to design the Workday Student implementation methodology. Before joining Workday, Kate was a higher education consultant at Huron Consulting Group, and later at the Education Advisory Board (EAB). She has also worked in an academic advising office as a student success coach and has an Ed.M. with a concentration in Higher Education Administration. Kate lives in Needham, MA.
Alexander Ondrus
Senior Research Specialist - Education Insights, Data & Research
Alex Ondrus is a Senior Research Specialist with the Education Insights team at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. He is responsible for the Enrolment Planning and Reporting unit, which produces enrolment projections and reports for the institute. Using statistical analysis and machine learning techniques, we translate enrolment and application data into actionable insights for the decision makers at NAIT.
Ashmita De
Research Analyst - Education Insights, Data & Research
Ashmita De is a Research Analyst in the Education Insights, Data and Research department at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). She is part of the Enrolment Planning and Reporting unit, specializing in enrolment projections through statistical and machine learning based methods to assist NAIT’s decision-makers.
Intkhab Ali
Senior Manager
Intkhab has over 30 years of IT experience both as a Enterprise and Solution Architect and in various IT Leadership roles in organizations both large and small, private and public sector. He specializes in emerging technologies and practices and contributing to solutions that span business, information, and application, and technology domains of knowledge. He has worked with – either as an employee or consultant – over 100 different organizations with particularly strong industry specializations in Education, Gaming, and Public Sector. His background in technology enablement includes the full cycle of selection, procurement, transformation, integration, and replacement. He is also a former educator. Most recently, Intkhab has been specializing in helping companies manage their Digital Transformations and Modernization programs – particularly in public sector and Education environments. His background in Enterprise and Solution architecture, Project Management, application lifecycle management, software testing, and Enabling technologies combine with experience in multiple clients to help transform organizations into architecturally sound, technology-enabled, strategic leaders in their sector.
Jacob James
Senior Manager
Jacob James is leader in the EPM practice with 15+ years of consulting experience in financial information management and analytics. He has led finance transformation initiatives in Canadian higher education institutions, specifically focused on enabling FP&A and Financial reporting processes using EPM cloud platforms. He has presented at Oracle OUTAG on leading practices for Cloud EPM migrations.
Lukus Ratz
Associate Manager
Lukus Ratz has rich experience in EPM implementation across Canadian public sector with various industries. He has implemented Capital, Projects, and Financials business processes (Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow, and Cash Forecast). In such engagements, he delivered the full gamut of features available in the Oracle Planning suite (integrations, security, calculation scripts, business process flow, master data, conversion, etc.).
Josh Mills
Managing Director, Technology
Josh is a Managing Director at Accenture, leading the Oracle Practice in Western Canada. With 20 years of experience in Backoffice Transformation, he specializes in Cloud ERP implementations, particularly with Oracle ERP, HCM, and EPM Cloud. Josh has worked with clients in North America and Europe across various industries, helping them improve their Finance, Human Resource and Technology functions. He excels in program delivery, business process optimization, and shared services, with a strong background in financial and supply chain Cloud applications. In addition to leading Cloud ERP implementations, Josh is skilled in developing comprehensive business cases, creating multi-year roadmaps, and leading enterprise-wide Transformation programs.
Cherise O'Kennedy
Director, Cloud Technology & Business Transformation
Cherise is an accomplished Delivery Leader in the Oracle ERP Cloud practice in Canada at Accenture. She is one of the few people in the world who has both Oracle ERP Cloud consulting implementation and product management experience having launched new Oracle ERP Higher Education cloud products as a former Oracle employee. With 20+ years of experience in Oracle consulting and product management, Cherise is adept at bridging the operational, technical, and functional requirements in complex business environments by understanding pain points, business issues, and strategic goals. This expertise has been integral to Cherise advising Higher Ed clients on using Oracle products to drive business transformation, improve financial sustainability, reduce financial risk and achieve institution operational excellence.
Ken Lane
Director, Solutions and Service Delivery
Ken has been with the University of Calgary for the past 12 years in a career that has spanned 32 years in multiple industries including Higher Education, Transportation, Telecommunications, Oil & Gas, Manufacturing and Government. His current portfolio consists of Enterprise Applications and platforms, Applications (Vendor, SaaS and Custom Developed), Business Intelligence & Analytics, Integrations, Content & Collaboration, Geospatial Services and ucalgary.ca web services. Ken's most recent initiatives all involve migrating services to the cloud including Hyperion to EPM Cloud, modernizing the Business Intelligence Platform, the migration of SharePoint 2013 to SharePoint Online, completing a Proof of Concept to migrate platforms/applications to Microsoft Azure and the planned Proof of Concept to host PeopleSoft as an IaaS solution.
Loren Bain
Director, Applications and Integration
Loren has been a part of IT at NAIT for the past twenty-four years, starting in a technical role in NAIT's PeopleSoft implementation. He now leads NAIT Applications and Integration portfolio in IT including Enterprise Systems, Application Development, Cloud & DevOps, Business Intelligence, Data Governance, and Enterprise Architecture. In the past several years, Loren has focused on cloud migration, application modernization, the development of NAIT's integration capabilities and what comes after PeopleSoft.
Ashton Wong
Manager, Enterprise Business Solutions, Business Technology Services
Ashton has been leading the Enterprise Business Solutions team at NorQuest College for 2 years. In partnership with business areas, the team is responsible for maintaining and configuring the ERP system (Oracle PeopleSoft), and custom application development. Prior to this role, Ashton led the Technology Infrastructure team at NorQuest College and previously worked at the University of Alberta in various IT roles.
Partner Institutions
Attending Vendors
FAQs
Hosting the UNITE 2024 Conference as a hybrid event means that guests and speakers are able to attend and present both in-person and virtually. Whether you attend as an in-person guest or a virtual one, you will be able to attend all sessions.
Hosting the UNITE 2024 Conference as a hybrid event increases costs significantly. In order for guests and speakers to attend and present virtually, there are added costs for equipment and on-site technicians for the duration of the event. Adding the hybrid option increases the total cost of the conference to uDigit by roughly 60%.
Simply log in via www.udigitunite.com. Enter the email address you used to register and follow the link emailed to you. Find the session you would like to join and click the "Join Session" button. The "Join Session" button will become visible 15 minutes prior to the session start date. You must be logged in to join sessions. Please note that you have to toggle between Monday and Tuesday to see all sessions.
We have created the sessions via Zoom events this year. Please log into Zoom prior to clicking the "Join Session" button. If you are not already logged in, you will be prompted to do so, and you may be redirected to a lobby. If this happens, simply click the sessions tab at the top of the screen and find the session you would like to join from the list OR re-click the "Join Session" button once signed in to take you directly to the session. If you do not have a Zoom account, please create one prior to the conference in order to join sessions.
We ask that everyone attending the event please register. This is to ensure we have enough food and seats as well as so we can accommodate for any dietary restrictions.
Yes! The UNITE 2024 Conference will have a delicious buffet breakfast and lunch as well as coffee and snacks during break times. Please include any dietary restrictions during your registration so that we can accommodate your needs.
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